Hey 2013!

I’m not ready to say good-bye to the holidays! waaawaa (hot tears crystalizing) The welcoming glow of the Christmas lights, the comforting decadence of home-made eggnog, the omnipresent scent of cedar & cinnamon as I walk through the door…parting tis not sweet at all…

In fact, why can’t we have our Christmas lights up all winter long?! Who was the big Grinch that decided that was just outré ? Probably the same wet blanket that mandated no white trousers after Labour Day or long hair after 40.

Well, let it be known, I mean to be a flame-spitting hellion in 2013 and break all the rules ( I’ve been breaking at least two of them for much longer than I care to admit anyway)

I’m still in Sun Valley and loving every frigid minute of it. Two nights ago it plummeted to minus 12 degrees at our property! To be outside for just a couple of minutes was positively giddifying. The landscape was sparkling like diamond dust, the air itself glistening, no longer the invisible element. Even though I had to sleep in my long johns, as the cold was finding every possible avenue of entry, it was still pure magic.

God bless youth, my younger son and his friend decided it would be the perfect night to take a jacuzzi. Outside.

I went out for two seconds to check on them and spotted these tracks on the jacuzzi porch.

The boys came in shortly after.

By early morning you could see another set of interesting tracks leading down to the partially frozen river. The big ones on the left are my snow shoes but the single line on the right is an animal. Upon closer inspection they appeared to be left by a light footed deer wearing Manolo pumps, possibly Louboutins, definitely sober. No tracks back, so…did she jump into the frigid water? The first broken heart of 2013?

More of my tracks along the side of my house. Gawd, I’m sporty. It’s a whole New Me in 2013.

But let’s not speak of resolutions just yet-it’s only the 3rd. You know how I hate to be rushed.

my fellow ‘shoers’

Let’s just have one more hot toddy on my birchbark screened porch and ponder how cold it must be on the ski lifts right now 🙂

42 Comments

Winter wonderland, glistening snow, hot toddies! (Serious animal tracks aside…) What a life! It beats the roar of the gardener who hasn’t been here for three weeks, dismantling the holiday decor, and getting back into the daily grind…
Trade ya! Hahahaha!
But I so seriously am thinking about decorating right after Halloween with decor that will suffice for Thanksgiving and Christmas so as to extend the effort-reward effect for me. I have, however, adopted the twelfth night rule for taking down my visual frivolities…Time flies by too quickly!
Many, many blessings to you and yours in this New Year!
xoxo, Chris

Don’t want to worry you but that track looked like something that “slithered” from where I am sitting? 🙁 Your porch is SOOO beautiful, would happily sit there for hours though probably not at minus twelve!! Looking forward to you breaking all the rules – GO GIRL!

I think at least having twinkle lights year-round is solid. (And long hair over 40 and white pants whenever: Yes!) I did, however, take down all the holiday decorations during a rather slow period on New Year’s Day. But that was somehow refreshing — I think replacing all the holiday greens with just-about-to-bloom paperwhites and a huge pot of orchids did the trick. Enjoy the rest of your time away!

Fabby post. First, a beautiful table setting outside with the birch logs in the lucite legs of the table. I want to dine at that table. Secondly, the birch walls of your porch…..heavenly. I love birch, it reminds me of my childhood. Enjoy Slim……I am jealous.

Love Sun Valley but that below zero does get to me. I thought it would be warmer back in LA. I gotta tell you minus 10 in Sun Valley and 48 in LA feel almost the same. Maybe it’s just more fun in Sun Valley, and I don’t need to cover my face in LA. Keep that tree and your life glowing!

I am with you … I dont even have the heart to remove my own holiday decorations I have my housekeeper do it. Too depressing. That being said we have spring and summer to look forward to and go knows Christmas 2013 is “just around the corner!” xoL

Beautiful! I agree about the end of the season. Why must we give up the champagne and eggnog and the lights, for Goodness sake? I keep white lights on in my family rm until March when the days are longer. Enjoy the snow!

Beautiful photos – lots to ponder & enjoy. The snow on the newel post in the first picture appears to be an owl looking at your lighted tree. The tracks in the snow are so interesting. Could the ones on the jacuzzi porch be from a mountain lion? I love the birchbark panels on your screened porch – just perfect! I’m looking forward to you breaking some rules & sharing your experiences. I do believe we’re still having fun! Happy New Year – Ruth

SO SO Gorgeous…..I love my tree so much….13 feet this year…that I’m NOT taking it down until those Three Kings supposedly arrived! I have until Sunday! Keep these gorgeous images coming as I , too, am enjoying a roaring fire because I’m sick as can be!!! But the 90 th went off without a flicker!! x

Slim please change over my email to ***********I had corruption so I changed it.
Please put me in your database as I am a huge fan of yours and live for your posts. They bring me such joy and happiness. Many thanks. Best, Leslie Magidsohn

Dearest Leslie, I’ve taken the liberty of deleting your email address in your comment to protect your privacy but I’m posting this as you are one of several readers that, for various reasons, have requested I update their email subscriptions. Unfortunately, I have no ability to do that on my end. In order to still receive posts via email you will have to re-subscribe with your new address (and perhaps a new name-but not sure about that) I’m so sorry to hear your address was ‘corrupted’ and thank you SO much for your sweet words. Happy New Year to you!! xx

Slim,
I’m slow to take down Christmas around here but will accomplish the task this weekend. Funny, we had an extra week and still I felt short on my Christmas season fix. Your house in Sun Valley is so beautiful, especially blanketed in snow.
Happy New Year, I look forward to another year of ever-entertaining posts from you.
Karen

Thank you for the snow…..what is Christmas without snow?!?! Haven’t been in for two years now and I do miss it. On my third day of taking down my Christmas. I always think I am the only one that can do it properly. Yay for white any time of year and long hair any time of life!!! Heart that! The only reason for my stopping egg nog, etc, is the darn fat that piles on me. Must veggie for a while.Adore your blog, and I must say I have been looking at others and yours is truly the best. Your suggestions for other blogs is good, but you win, hands down! Thank you!!! Happy new year to you. MH

Oh, that table and setting takes my breath! Minus 12?? You would find me outside, and maybe not even on that magnificent porch! I HATE the cold. I do however envy you, for where you are!!! I am so with you about taking the Christmas decorations down. ALL of mine are still up. XO, Pinky

Oh how I LOVE Sun Valley Slim, I go there a lot myself! LOVE your beautiful pictures of the colored lit tree outside & your birch bark porch. I am also excited to head to Santa Barbara next week for my very first time. Where is your favorite place for dinner? Happy New Year Slim!
P.S. Did your pot come clean?
Barbie

It is hard for me to play favourites being that S.B. has been my hometown for so many years, but I will say the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito is a gorgeous setting for dinner. Outside is beautiful downstairs or upstairs. If the weather isn’t nice the pub downstairs is really cozy and the food delicious (the pub doesn’t take reservations though) If you’re really lucky, you will snag a table by the fireplace 🙂 Enjoy your stay!!

Dearest Slim,
…want you to know it’s a good post, when, as I am reading, I am, grunting: “Mmm, mmm, mmm, beautiful.” OUT LOUD! Husband comments: “Slim, again?” Happy New Year….and please let us know when their is a Slim Retreat in Sun Valley. 🙂

Are those bear tracks to the Jacuzzi? Such beautiful pictures. I love when it’s that cold and crystallized. Everything seems so much brighter. Your Birch porch is simply gorgeous. And screened makes it perfect.
Care to share which 2 rules you’ve been “breaking all along”?
You DO know there are plenty of folks who leave their Christmas lights up all year. Some even light them. Just not for the reasons you would.
Flame-spitting hellion? Yay…bring it on, I can’t wait to see.

Blue and purple lights on your tree—–magnificent! Love everything about your Sun Valley posts as the pics are always the freshest. Living in Idaho is a pleasure year round as the air is so clean & fresh smelling and of course the people are the best here! Glad you are here for the rest of the holidays…….good for the boys to get that clean mountain air. I vote yes for leaving the decos up as long as they still please your eye!

Happi 2013!….oh my gauuuudddd…i was just talking with daughter number ,#1 TODAY!!!, ( as we were driving off to her college) if she thought i would have “old lady hair” when i got to the age of the crazy “way older” woman who kept cutting me off, (and succeeding at doing so)… (note: white short coiffed hair, perfectly executed in some sort of idk, mission impossible shape/style)…which then got us to thinking who would I emulate of any of the current personas in “entertainment” who were older than 70 that had long hair? (assuming that the crazy old lady who cut me off numerous times was about that age)…now that really got us thinking…she mentioned Hillary C, and I said, “No she is not old enough, and besides she just has shoulder length w/issues” , no joke with regards to her current issues…then she mentioned Cher…”Nope again, she has too many wigs, who knows what her hair looks like?!”….”Meryl Streep?”, she asked…hmmm, “Still again, not old enough”…..so how will I style/wear my hair when I am in my glory days ?…..my guess will be long, forever long….Now, I am not sure if we have some sort of hidden camera in our lives, but you always seem to hit EXACTLY what the heck is going on in our day, (this is getting a little weird, and simply wonderful mentally, especially since we have no connection whatsoever besides the fact that my daughter and i both read your posts)….on another note, those tracks in the snow…what exactly were they?….just curious….i always try to identify the poop that is left on our property and have become quite good and the distinction between raccoon, coyote, opossum and skunk…(o.k. maybe that is the wine, but it is the dog gone truth)…..UGH…. tomorrow is my ummm bday,… yup, i am older, thanks 2013….hopefully you will have an amazing post that will brighten my spirits for a moment..maybe a snow angel made by Slim?..wait… were those your tracks left in the snow, you know, the sinewy one….;0

Dear Slim
Happy New Year! Love all the wonderful pictures of your Sun Valley house in the snow. Here in Canberra/Australia it will be 39C tomorrow (that’s probably over 100F) and it was 37 today. We’re fortunate to have air conditioning but I spend a lot of the early morning outdoors watering my vegetable garden (tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, beans, lettuce, rocket, strawberies, capsicums, basil, sage, oregano, parsely, chives etc) and pot plants to keep them alive in these conditions. So today when I came back inside I opened your post and feasted my eyes on all that lovely snow. It’s cooling just looking at it. How wonderful to be in the countryside with deer and other snow creatures.

It’s not always this hot in summer (at least not for long) but there’s a heatwave sweeping most of Australia just now and serious bushfires have broken out in several places, the worst at the moment in Tasmania. The heat is why so many go to the beach at this time of the year. You can’t really though if growing veggies as they would cook and then shrivel if not deep watered frequently just now.

So strange isn’t it? We connect effortlessly through cyber space as though we’re all neighbours and yet we live in such different worlds and such contrasting conditions. But I’m with you on the Christmas decorations and the tree. Ours are still brightly shining. After all it’s not quite 12th night. Even then, might leave it another couple of days. But I have stopped playing the Christmas CDs. Didn’t seem quite right. Don’t understand about rules governing when you have to stop wearing white pants. Don’t think we have anything like that here in Oz. Don’t think there are rules about hair either. So pleased about that. Free spirits of the world unite! Best wishes, Pamela

Another GORGEOUS post! The last time (all about me), and only time, unfortunately,I was in Idaho, I had to pick my child up from a wilderness bootcamp. Big mistake. I left my airport hotel at the crack of dawn and drove from Boise to the mountains, almost to Canada. Loooong story short, I ended up driving in a snowstorm that night, with no inkling of what I was doing, all the way back, so I could hop on a plane to head home at the crack of dawn the next morning. Lets just say the child was furious about her stay in the wilderness, and against all advice, I brought her home as it was the week before Christmas and I couldn’t stand it. Not a pleasant trip, we are lucky to be alive! I have spent Christmas in Colorado, with too much snow to fly for two days…but I have never experienced cold like that! Through it all, all I could think about was how gorgeous it was. I love your birch porch, your Adirondack touches, and THAT tree! I would stay up half the night to absorb the magic, Christmas music blaring! Thank you, once again, for your wonderful post…I am donning my white pants and letting my hair down!

Happy New Year! The first image of the winter outdoor picnic leaves me shivering. Stunning but baby it looks cold outside! While I’m taking down some decorations my tree is looking spectacular and I think it’s going to be up another week (or so). Also still enjoying outside lights too. Wishing you all the best in this new year. Your blog, your thoughts and the visual treats you lay out for us are simply amazing. Many thanks.

Wait, did I really not leave a response? I think I went to some sort of Happy Place while staring at the just jaw-dropping beauty (for once not an exaggerated term) and zoned out. Good thing I had to come back to see it again so that I can update my manners. I really believe that I have said this before but I need to say it again: if you weren’t so appreciative of all of the amazingness that you have in your life it would be easy to fall into an ugly j word (no, not JLo, jealous). But you do. And you share it. I need to nominate you for some sort of humanitarian award methinks.